Thread: Another OZ MK2 PDRacer build in Sydney "Wood Duck"

Howdy MIK,

That would seem to be the second time that you've eaten there, so it would seem to be a reasonable joint :).

I wouldn't recommend eating laksa or anything else off that bench though - it's had too many nasty chemicals on it to be entirely safe ;).

Cheers,
Alex.

I'm not going very fast with the sanding back of the high-build primer. I thought that the Perma-Grit block would be the go, but a corner of the bonded plate has lifted - or something - as it is cutting deep gouges into the substrate, and going very far with this would cut right down to the 'pox'n'glass underneath. Not recommended.

So it's back to the rather blunt 80-grit black sanding disk - my last one until an order from my good friend Rob turns up tomorrow (I hope!). I'm getting some 60-grit discs as this is what BoatCraft pacific recommend on the label: 60-grit sand-paper certainly cuts into it fairly fiercely, but altogether rather too briefly. The high-build is a real demon for blunting sand-paper, even the black:Stone discs that last and last on normal BoteCote 'pox. Unfortunately Bosch don't do 60-grit in black, some I'm trying out their red 60-grit (wood). Not sure if they do a 60-grit white (paint) though, will have to check that out.

I tried the belt-sander with a 60-grit belt on it, but the sander has an alarming tendency to dig in <gasp> at the height at which I'm having to control it (I'm thinking of cutting down the legs of the building frame so that I can get over the top of the fuselage hull, and if I can work out a sensible way of doing it easily and keep all the legs at the same height, I'll do it.

As a result on all this, I'm currently having a(nother ;) break until I've worked out how - or if - I can.

I've been adding Forum pages that I've linked to often to my trackback set - I have eight so far, with one more being added this arvo. I probably should try and keep it relevant to 'Ducks, but I haven't tried very hard. I'm also going to put up some holiday Chipmunk snap in a bit, as previously threatened ;).

Originally Posted by rob540

Quite right Mik, Laksa is better in a bowl, because it spreads too far on a bench. But if it was really lumpy, this would be the bench!

Heh . I'd run a masking-tape dam around the edge to prevent the juice from escaping, though...

With the help of The Boss, I got the boat off the building jig and onto its side on the floor, then the frame slipped onto the two Triton MultiStands at their lowest points.

1. Boat on floor, building frame back on tripods. This is how the frame setup was 12 months ago, minus the various jig parts. It won't be like this for long: only until I've sliced 240-odd mm off the four legs. it will possibly be a bit easier to get the boat back on the considerably lower jig by myself without wrecking the jig, the boat or myself ...





2. Four building frame legs awaiting their appointment with the hairdresser, which they are in fact currently sitting on. The saw blade was reinstalled on its arbor after this photo was taken; the wheel-nut wrench is supposed to be migrating back to the car


Follow this link to my Flickr account - but watch out for changed captions



Having got the saw ready for final setup tomorrow morning, I'll get the legs shortened and reinstalled. I'll even have a go at putting the boat back on the jig, but if it looks as though it's not going to work without two people, I'll leave it. Plenty to do - foils to finish, spars to coat and...while I've been tidying things up I have gradually been rounding up the marked-out parts for the 1:5 DHC-1 Chipmunk that I'm supposedly building. Or was building. The parts got into all sorts of unlikely spots, and I'm still missing the two W1 - centre - wing ribs. I've got a feeling that I might have actually used them to make something for the boat. I did find the piece of balsa that I'd cut them from, however...

I just noticed the notice about manning the Woodwork Forums stand at the T&WW show in a week or so's time. People could come along and "meet the nutter" ;). I'm probably the very last person that they'd want on that stand - a very bad example to set!

Originally Posted by AlexN

...

I just noticed the notice about manning the Woodwork Forums stand at the T&WW show in a week or so's time. People could come along and "meet the nutter" . I'm probably the very last person that they'd want on that stand - a very bad example to set!

Au contraire, Alex. You would be most welcome. Your experience of using the Forums should convince anyone interested in any woodworking craft/skill/activity that this is the place to be. Why not join me on Saturday or Sunday arvo and we can do it together (two Adelaide boys telling Sydneysiders how good this Melbourne-based forum is!)

Originally Posted by jmk89

Au contraire, Alex. You would be most welcome. Your experience of using the Forums should convince anyone interested in any woodworking craft/skill/activity that this is the place to be. Why not join me on Saturday or Sunday arvo and we can do it together (two Adelaide boys telling Sydneysiders how good this Melbourne-based forum is!)

Err, I guess so... I'll ry and get in toch with them- did you put your name down aready?

Originally Posted by AlexN

Err, I guess so... I'll ry and get in toch with them- did you put your name down aready?

Yep I'm doing 3.00 - 5.00 pm on both Saturday and Sunday. The latest roster is in this post.

The more the merrier (says the poor sucker who put up his hand to organise this)

Originally Posted by AlexN

I just noticed the notice about manning the Woodwork Forums stand at the T&WW show in a week or so's time. People could come along and "meet the nutter" . I'm probably the very last person that they'd want on that stand - a very bad example to set!

It would be great. Take some pics ... maybe they have some space for your boat somewhere? (maybe not at this short notice!)

MIK

Originally Posted by Boatmik

It would be great. Take some pics ... maybe they have some space for your boat somewhere? (maybe not at this short notice!)

MIK

Hi MIK,

I could try - It would be Wood Duck's first outing (how much wood could a wood duck duck if a...?) in that cae. I've still got install the roof racks on the car and work out how to bolt the boat on, so even if there were space, I don't know how well I'd go getting her there. I could, of course, hire a trailer from Kennards and pop her on a layer of foam, blankets, etc. Let me think about it...

I done sawn off der building frame legs, then put 'em back on and removed the MultiStands. Then, rustling what small amount o' guile and cunning do I possess, I managed to bet the boat back onto her jig by turning the frame on its side out of the way, turning the boat back upside down resting the top of the stern transom on the floor 'twixt the two "roof" beams, lifting the bow at the same time, then lowering the frame's four legs back onto the floor, followed by lowering the boat onto the frame and sliding it back into position. A length of wood was used to assist the bow in sliding along the frame bed, then some trivial lifting and tugging to get her squared up. I also did a couple of minutes'-worth of sanding with the ROS to test out the new height, and it is a lot more betterer. Even lower would have been bettererer still (why not put the boat on the floor, I hear you all cry), but see below (caption for photo no. 6) for why not.

I didn't have a spare hand to take any photos whilst this operation was in progress (especially the frame- and boat-turning/lowering bits) and I have yet to learn to take photos with my boots or with the camera in my mouth. But I did take some snaps before and after, q.v.:

1. Building frame legs pruned of approx. 240 mm, awaiting the power driver and the four screws per leg. Piles of stuff infesting/cluttering the visible workbench are various groups of Chipmunk wing and body parts...





2. The sawn-off leg off-cuts. I checked for the presence of screws in the legs' flight-paths across the rather expensive thin-kerf CMT blade, before commencing each cut





3. The shortened legs screwed on. The frame is waving about a bit in the breeze on account of still being supported by the Triton MultiStands





4. Another view of the suspended building frame





5. The lowered building frame back on terra firma. Note that I cleared everything (except the plastic floor covering) that is under the frame in this photo well and truly out of the way before manipulating the frame back under the boat - and the boat back onto the frame...





6. The boat back on the lowered frame/jig. The reason for not going lower was so that I can still insinuate myself under the frame and do such work remaining in the cockpit that is (much) easier to do with the boat upside down. Too much lower and I wouldn't be able to slither underneath, even with my own rather thin frame. As it is, I can now sit comfortably on the cold floor rather than kneel akwardly and uncomfortably on the said cold floor


Follow this link to my Flickr account, where lurk strange wee beasties and similar



Even with the useful alterations to the frame height, the sanding is still tough - although not nearly as uncomfortably tough as it was previously. One side-effect that would have been better to avoid is that the sides, being lower, and going to be a wee bit harder to control the ROS on. A test-sand of the starboard hull/stern transom corner revealed this, especially when I went right through a small section of the very thick globs of tough primer on the hull edge, where the force of the sander is consequently much greater than it is than when the ROS is completely surrounded by flat surface. I'll stick to doing the other corners and edges by hand as I had planned to do...

The sanding discs turned up just after lunch and the Dog's walk, so I got stuck straight into some serious sanding after fitting a 60-grit red:Wood disc to the ROS. It dulled fairly quickly as expected, but even so kept cutting for a good long while, and I've got over a third of the bottom sanded flat now (i.e., no shiny spots). Having the boat closer to the ground has helped a lot both in terms of getting over the work and in terms of being able to see when the sanding is complete in a particular area - although I do have to replace the batteries in the head light fairly regularly to avoid eye-strain, the light being a particularly hungry/thirsty little beast.

I'm still considering the logistics of moving the 'Duck over the other side of town. One thing that puts me off is having to leave it there for a few days...

Howdy Alex,

You might find the 60 grit a bit coarse with the scratches showing through when the next coat goes on. Generally I would be using a 150 t0 180 when trying to flatten off paint or epoxy and maybe 240 or 280 when the surface was flat (as in not a bumpy finish) and needing sanding.

See how you go. A couple of coats with sanding between will fill the scratches if you have any at all.

Best wishes
Michael.

Howdy MIK,

Thanks for the advice :). I'm using the 60-grit because that's what BoatCraft recommend. They then go on to say sand with increasingly finer grits until scratch-free. As it is, the ROS is producing quite a nice finish even with the nominal Bosch 60-grit on that stuff. And I've got rid of the Perma-Grit gouges using the ROS, too: I'll have to inspect the PG block before using it again. I'll ROS the whole thing with 120-grit, then follow that with 180- and 240-grit using the block.

If I were to be attempting to use 150-grit on the BoteCote high-build epoxy, I would be there sanding away until next year ;). It is really, really hard stuff - harder than stainless steel to shape, at least in flat areas.

BTW, I found that the inside of my vacuum honse cone adapter had steps, so I progressively cut up the cone until the Boshc tool adapter fitted snugy into the end, then wrapped duct tape around the loose-threaded end until I got a tight fit on the hose - and now I don't have to stop every 15 minutes for 15 minutes to clean out the ROS' insides and its external (and very effective) dust-box. And I'm hoping that the constant stream of air will keep the ROS' internals a lot cleaner, too :).

I've got about 5/6 of the hull bottom done now, and hop to get the rest plus some of the bow transom done before lunch.

Cheers,
Alex.

As long as it is working.

I do find the Boatcraft advice about general boatbuilding methods a bit strange sometimes - though their advice with their products is normally pretty good.

You have to remember they are not people who build boats every day so their perspective is a bit different when it comes down to detail stuff.

But they won't lead you too far astray. See what happens when you recoat. The sanding grit might be OK for their product.

MIK